Northwest Iowa — You may have seen something in a recycling bin and thought to yourself, is THAT recyclable? In our part of northwest Iowa, the curbside recycling goes to the Northwest Iowa Solid Waste Agency between Sheldon and Hospers — BUT, it is then further trucked to Le Mars for processing.
That’s according to Solid Waste Agency Manager Larry Oldenkamp. Oldenkamp has said in the past that they accept plastics for recycling with recycling numbers 1-7 on them (except Styrofoam). But we wondered what kind of metal is accepted in curbside recycling. Oldenkamp fills us in.
(as said:) “Your aluminum cans and your pop cans, dog and cat food cans, all metal cans, lids, foil trays, and we do also aerosol spray cans, but they have to be empty. “
Of course, soda and beer cans sold in Iowa are eligible for a 5-cent refund that you can get or you can donate your cans to a charitable organization and they can collect the refund. Obviously, if you recycle those kinds of cans, you will miss out on the refund, but they do take them, says Oldenkamp.
Oldenkamp says just because they accept some metals, doesn’t mean they accept all metal items. Car parts, for instance, are NOT recyclable in curbside recycling.
(as said:) “No. Curbside recycling basically means pretty much what you get in your households, like food stuff. You know, what you have your food in. Car parts got to go to an auto recycler. There’s a difference. “
Oldenkamp tells us they don’t take old iron, copper pipe, brass, or other similar things either.
(as said:) “We don’t do that here. That’s pretty much a commercial recycler that does that.”
The upside of that is that if you take those kinds of things to a scrap metal recycler, they might even pay you a little for it. But you can’t throw them in your recycle bin.
Also falling into the category of “recyclable, but not in curbside recycling” is electronics like TVs, computers, and so forth.
(as said:) “Anything that has a power cord on it is not recyclable through the curbside. That has to go… be dealt with somehow differently. We don’t take it in the curbside program, but you can bring it to the landfill itself. There is a charge for TVs and computers because we have to pay for somebody to pick them up but that we do have that provision here, but you don’t put it in your container. You bring it to the landfill. We do have a spot in the recycling building now, that’s where we take the TVs and electronics.”
Oldenkamp says phones and batteries should not go in curbside recycling either. He says they are a fire hazard, and they’ve even had small fires start at their facility due to batteries in recycling. He reminds us of their Household Hazardous Materials facility and the trailer that makes stops around the area. He says batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, chemicals, and more are accepted through that program, but you do need to call first to make an appointment to drop off anything at the Household Hazardous Materials building. The number to call is (712) 324-4026.
He tells us the curbside recycling program does take plastic bags now, as well as pill bottles (make sure to remove any prescription stickers with your name and personal information on them), frozen food boxes, cereal boxes, soda and beer boxes, corrugated cardboard, and more. Again, glass is also no longer recyclable through curbside recycling. Click here for more information.
